Exercise is very important for good physical health. One form of exercise is to perform functional movements at high intensity. An example of this type of exercise is practiced under the trademark CROSSFIT. While many CROSSFIT exercises can be beneficial in terms of increased strength and improved cardiac health, some of these exercises may result in injury to a person's hands. An example of such an exercise is a kipping pullup, a type of pullup with horizontal momentum. Because the exercise causes a person's hands to move while they are grasping the bar, the possibility of torn skin is present. For example, if a person has developed callouses on their hands, the motion of a person's hands as they perform kipping pullups may cause the callouses to tear, resulting in dead skin and live skin being torn. Bleeding may eventually ensue. The person with the hand injuries may then be unable to resume exercise for several weeks until their hands have had a chance to heal.
Pull-ups, muscle-ups, “toes-to-bar,” and Kettlebell swings are other examples of exercises that have the potential to injure a person's hands. Again, skin and/or callouses may rip, resulting in bleeding.
Weightlifting is another form of exercise that may result in hand injuries. Weightlifting is performed using a cylindrical rod, often referred to as a bar, to which is attached a plurality of weighted objects, often referred to as weights. An individual lifts the bar with the attached weights for a variety of different purposes. If the bar with the attached weights is being used for exercise, then the bar and the weights may be used in order to grow muscles, improve muscle tone, perform cardiovascular exercises, etc. In such scenarios, the bar in the weights may be lifted a plurality of times in order achieve some or all of the above objectives. Over a period of time, the number (and and/or amount) of weights attached to the bar can be increased in order to make exercise more challenging.
If a bar with a attached weights is being used in a competitive environment, various athletes are observed as they lift bars with attached weights to see which athlete is able to lift the heaviest combination of the bar and the weights. The athlete that lifts the heaviest bar/weights combination using a specified movement may then designated the winner of the competition.
Bars typically include knurling. Knurling is typically two sets of diagonal lines, with each set going in opposite direction. In this manner, thousands and thousands of tiny diamonds are formed. Knurling adds additional grip to the bar. In this manner, it is easier to hold onto the bar, particularly when extremely heavy weights are being lifted. Knurling, however, has different levels of aggressiveness depending upon the width of the grooves and depth of the grooves caused by the knurling.
The use of gloves may protect an individual's hands during exercise, but there are disadvantages in using gloves as well.
With regard to weightlifting, for example, one school of thought believes that a bar should be lifted using gloves. Using gloves may make lifting more comfortable. Gloves may also play a desirable role in protecting the hands of the person lifting the weights. While lifting weights without gloves will cause hands develop calluses, over time, the calluses can be torn off, thus ripping off not only dead skin but live skin as well. Such a person may have bleeding hands, and then exercise may need to be halted for several weeks until the hands heal. This can be very inconvenient. Thus, there are some weightlifters (and/or weightlifting coaches) who believe that gloves should be worn during weightlifting. Another school of thought believes that gloves should not be used during lifting. One reason that gloves may be frowned upon is that gloves add extra diameter to the bar. As a result, the bar can be more difficult to hold, and difficulty holding the bar can interfere with the ability to manipulate the bar either during exercise or during competition. Furthermore, in professional weightlifting, men use a 28 mm bar while women use a 25 mm bar. If a woman were to use gloves in combination with a 25 mm bar, the resulting size would be greater than the men's bar, thus negating the advantages of the narrower bar. Furthermore, the use of gloves creates an intermediary between a person's hands and the bar. This can result in a loss of force transfer. As a result, men and/or women that are lifting weights may frown upon the use of gloves. Without the use of gloves, again, there is a risk of damaging hands, as skin and/or callouses rip, resulting in bleeding and pain.
With kipping and kettlebells, it is important for a person who is exercising to have a firm grasp. Gloves, however, would interfere with the ability of a person to grasp, and thus may not be desirable to engage in those forms of exercise.
Other types of gripping devices may be used during sports and exercise to prevent hands from ripping. Many of these devices have the problem of being either too bulky, which does not allow a good grip on the bar, and/or poor fit, which causes reduced grip strength, slipping and frustration.
As a further alternative, some athletes may use tape in order to protect their hands. In this manner, tape is applied to the hands of the person exercising and then the person grasps with taped hands. Such taping may be time-consuming, may not be applied correctly, may easily fall off, or may have areas with bumps or unevenness that may interfere with the ability to efficiently lift the bar.